Oceanside unions preparing for talks with city

OCEANSIDE —— Most of Oceanside's nearly 1,000 full-time
employees are looking to strike a new deal with the city by year's
end. By that time, the city's contracts with all but one of the
city's employee unions will have expired.

Several Oceanside union chiefs said Tuesday they'll be looking
for increases in salaries, pension benefits and the city's
contribution to health care plans when they start negotiations with
the city this spring or summer.

Brian Kammerer, Oceanside's personnel director, said that while
all three of the issues mentioned by the unions were negotiable,
the city won't be able to make across-the-board increases to
salary, pensions and health benefits because "the breadbox is only
so big."

Personnel costs represent the single biggest piece of the city's
annual spending plan, according to Paul Bussey, Oceanside's interim
finance director. Bussey said employee salaries and benefits make
up $53 million, or 59 percent, of the city's $89.6 million general
fund budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

Bussey said the average salary for Oceanside employees is about
$43,500. By comparison, the average employee salary in Encinitas is
$51,000. In San Marcos, it's $65,800.

"We are not getting compensated fairly compared to other
cities," said Kelvin Harris, who heads a union, the Management
Employees of the City of Oceanside. The 75 members of Harris' union
are the city's middle managers.

Harris said his union's two-year agreement with the city, which
expires at the end of June, called for a 5 percent raise over two
years. That wasn't even enough to keep up with inflation, he
said.

"Things aren't getting any cheaper," Harris said.

The city's middle managers would be very pleased with a
long-term agreement that annually boosts their salaries by about 5
percent, Harris said.

The 230-member Oceanside Police Officers Association will also
try to get its employees a bump in pay when it begins negotiations
with the city this summer, union officials said.

The police union —— which represents rank-and-file officers,
harbor police, and non-sworn employees such as dispatchers ——
negotiated a 23.5 percent pay boost over the last five years, said
union chief John Anderson.

Anderson said because of Oceanside's size, crime and number of
police officers, the 179 officers in his union deserve a hefty bump
in wages to make them some of the highest paid in the county.

"This is not Carlsbad and it's not Coronado," said Steve
Tiplitsky, the police union's vice chairman. "There's crime here.
There's gang activity and it's more dangerous."

Police officers also need a sizable raise to help them afford to
buy homes in San Diego County, Tiplitsky said.

It's not out of the question that the police union will request
an annual pay boost of more than 10 percent, union officials
said.

Union chiefs also said they'll probably go after increases to
the city's contribution to employee health plans. Oceanside now
pays $545 a month for each employee's health care.

While there are several city health plans for which that $545
covers the entire monthly bill, for some plans it leaves a
shortfall of hundreds of dollars that employees must cover.